Exodus 7

¹So the Lord

²You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.

³And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

⁴But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord

⁶Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the Lord

⁷And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸Then the Lord

⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ”

¹⁰So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord

¹¹But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

¹²For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

¹³And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord

¹⁴So the Lord

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

¹⁶And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord

¹⁷Thus says the Lord

¹⁸And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”

¹⁹Then the Lord

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord

²¹The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

²²Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord

²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this.

²⁴So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.

²⁵And seven days passed after the Lord